6 pulses is definetly ok, now i only have to buy the solenoid and a weight. (unfortunately electronics goldmine doesn’t ship to italy though, gotta find me another shop!) I think i’ll go for 9V, not that i wouldn’t like a faster one, but it’s hard to stick a 12V battery in an airsoft rifle…
wait… i just got this new idea just now: i could have change voltage depending on which rifle i use… so for example bigger ones would get 12V (bigger= more space= 12V!) on smaller ones 9V ones, that would also make it more realistic!
Thanks for the in-depth information! I am planning on using ATmegas programmed in arduino C. The laser tag i am planning to make is the mil-sim kind, but it could be turned into arcade in a few secs (you know…just tweak the code a little and you’re done), even if i don’t think i’ll be doing that much (i am an airsoft player, so i like realism).
So far i wanted to integrate things like these in the project:
-recoil
-“near miss” warning (that is: if the data transmitted by one’s IR led isn’t received properly then the ATmega tells you somehow)
-magazines (i was planning on having, say, 5 magazines per player each with a different resistor, which has to be read by the ADC port on the atmega. The magazine doesn’t store the bullet count, the ATmega does (=less contacts needed, simpler to build))
-grenades and maybe flashbangs (grenades shouldn’t be hard, as for flashbangs, i thought about placing a few high output white LEDs on the player’s helmet/cap so they turn on when the “flashbang signal” is received
-fully working cocking handle
-other minor tweaks…
What about you? Are you going the mil-sim way too? Got some cool ideas to exchange?
I guess the PDA/netbook coupling is for setting up a match quickly right?
If you can’t find a solenoid available locally, I will send you one just like whats in my video. You just pay shipping to your home. I imagine it should not cost more than $5 to send it to Italy as the weight is about 75 grams.
PM me if you want to go this way and we can arrange something. I want to see your project when completed. One last thought… you can run the solenoid with (2) 9vdc batteries no problem. It really gives you the “recoil” sound and feel you are looking for.
That would be great! But i don’t want to bother you that much…
I’ve searched for 2 days or so and i didn’t come up with anything. I’ve only found 3 solenoids with springs so far: electronic goldmine, allelectronics, farnell.
Problems are: E.Goldmine doesn’t ship, allelectronics only has the 24v version, farnell’s solenoid has a way too small plunger. No results locally
**It seems Im not the only**<br><p>It seems Im not the only one having trouble with Electronics Goldmine. Don`t answer emails and just sit on orders… Good way to ru(i)n a business.
You could make your own solenoid with a nail or bolt and several metres of copper wire wound around a pen tube.
Your option could work if i had to produce just one of them, but i plan on installing them on many weapons so it might be hard and time consuming to make one for everyone of them, not to consider they would be much less reliable (more prone to jams).
In defense of Electronics In defense of Electronics Goldmine, I’ve ordered from them a bunch of times. Delivery was always prompt and I always got what I ordered. They are not exactly customer focused, but I think they are a fairly small shop and so they do what they can.
Link failure Strange things going on with the link in this post. In the Preview Comment the link was correct. I even tried it to make sure. All was good. Post Comment button deletes my link and inserts one going to this Blog. I see that the link text after the # character is correct. Maybe the # character is reserved for LMR posts in the software.
The point is that those solenoids do not appear to have return springs, so how would i produce the recoil effect? Maybe by sending them back and forth, but with a spring maybe i would save current…i think… although i am not really sure about what i just said.
Second option: get the one from all electronics. It says 24 volts but if you read the description it says “but it works fairly well on 12 Vdc” and if you look closely it really looks like the one electronics goldmine has, so i am starting to think they are the same. (allelectronics doesn’t seem to have limitations as to international shipping).
Conclusion: the first solenoid looks really cool and all… but i don’t know if i could use it to make recoil (never used solenoids, don’t know much about them). Do you think it could still work?
I drew this diagram to further explain what you may have to do to get the solenoid to work for your project. I doubt if you could find a suitable spring return style that would work. In my version, starting with the basic solenoid from my link, You would solder a wire to the body. this will limit plunger travel to 6mm. A compression spring will return the plunger to home position when power is dropped. The 6mm travel will give you the best speed/recoil "feel". Plus it is adjustable to your liking. The pin is soldered into the existing hole in the solenoid plunger to keep the spring under tension.
If you had a pull type solenoid with spring return or just added your own spring as in the diagram above you could do away with the extra stop. The solenoids internal stop would be enough to produce the kickback force.
Got it! Thank you for the Got it! Thank you for the diagram. I think i’m gonna go your way, it’s much easier to find pull-type solenoids without the spring, not to consider i can get them any voltage i want!
I made a quick drawing in AutoCad then Exported it to the .jpg file that you see here. The Wire Stop is just to keep the soleniod plunger from falling out to far. It seems to work the fastest in the last 6mm/.25inch of its travel.
